Gabrielle Palmer

Gabrielle Palmer has been involved for over 40 years in international efforts to stop the unethical promotion of breastmilk substitutes globally and to support appropriate infant feeding. She is the author of the seminal text, The Politics of Breastfeeding, now in its revised third edition and which has never been out of print. Childhood and family life Born in St Thomas's Hospital, Palmer spent her childhood in South London. She attended the Convent of Our Lady of Sion, Bayswater, London 1958 to 1965 and then studied at Manchester University (BA General Arts, 1966 to 1969) where she met John. They married in 1968 and in the early 1970s she became a National Childbirth Trust breastfeeding counsellor. Early professional life Palmer's professional life began as a secondary school teacher (1969 to 1976) and then she worked as a Save the Children, Schools and Universities Organiser 1977 to 1980. The family moved to Mozambique in 1981 where Palmer volunteered (with International Voluntary Service) working in nutrition and education within various government institutions in Maputo including in an orphanage and hospitals. She ran classes for mothers of malnourished children to support complementary feeding classes using locally available foods and taught nutrition to student health workers. She observed that mothers can sustain breastfeeding, despite poor food intake, if the breastfeeding culture is not undermined by false information, whether commercial or medical. Palmer returned to the UK to study for an MSc Human Nutrition at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (1985) and is recognised as an authority on supporting breastfeeding and campaigner to stop unethical promotion of breastmilk substitutes. The making of a campaigner In 1974, when her two children were still small, Palmer read The Baby Killer, a booklet by Mike Muller published by the charity War on Want highlighting the aggressive promotion of breastmilk substitutes in regions where their use led to infection and death of infants. Palmer resolved to work against the unethical promotion of artificial milks over breastfeeding. She was instrumental in establishing the campaigning group Baby Milk Action (International Baby Food Action Network, IBFAN) based in Cambridge, UK and of which she is still a patron.